Monday, February 22, 2016

Bernie Sanders calls himself a Democratic Socialist and half of Iowa's caucus voters, and 60% of New Hampshire's primary voters, and nearly half of Nevada's caucus goers voted for him. But, do these people really know what a Democratic Socialist is?

Well, here's what the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) say about that on their website:

Democratic socialists believe that both the economy and society
should be run democratically—to meet public needs, not to make profits
for a few. To achieve a more just society, many structures of our
government and economy must be radically transformed through greater
economic and social democracy so that ordinary Americans can participate
in the many decisions that affect our lives.

Their key goal, at least economically, is the above statement "to meet public needs, not to make profits
for a few". In essence, and regarding this nation's 250,000+ corporations, this, again from their website, explains it:

Democratic socialists do not want to create an all-powerful
government bureaucracy. But we do not want big corporate bureaucracies
to control our society either. Rather, we believe that social and
economic decisions should be made by those whom they most affect.

Today, corporate executives who answer only to themselves and a few
wealthy stockholders make basic economic decisions affecting millions of
people. Resources are used to make money for capitalists rather than to
meet human needs. We believe that the workers and consumers who are
affected by economic institutions should own and control them.

Social ownership could take many forms, such as worker-owned
cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and
consumer representatives. Democratic socialists favor as
much decentralization as possible. While the large concentrations of
capital in industries such as energy and steel may necessitate some form
of state ownership, many consumer-goods industries might be best run
as cooperatives.

Thus, Democratic Socialists want to destroy the very things that make this country great: The corporate structure and free enterprise system that have created 65% of the jobs in this country in the last 20 years, with wages that are 50% higher than smaller companies. Instead, they would have them run by committee; made up of workers and consumers. With companies being less profitable and more "needs" oriented. Does anyone think you'd have an Apple iPhone under that kind of "needs" oriented agenda? Or, for that matter, would we have many of the things that we all enjoy today made by -- you guessed it -- profitable corporations run by corporate executives whose goals are to create new products for us and become exceptionally competitive by producing those products at a lower cost?

This is why Democratic Socialism doesn't exist anywhere in the world. Even the closest thing to it, Sweden, is on its way to dumping its socialist way of life. That's because Sweden's high taxes, like a 25% VAT tax, are taking its toll. Compared to the United States, the average home is 60% smaller and only half of all Swedes own a car, compared to over 80% of Americans. The average workers after-tax income is just 40%. And, in 2005, the number of workers was only 4.46 million in a population of 9 million.

By the way, the organization "Democratic Socialists of America" had exactly 6,204 members in 2012. Not exactly proof that Americans are eager to embrace their philosophy.